Neon Genesis Evangelion: Stand Alone Complex
by The Pyromancer
Summary: A collection of interconnected drabbles following Rei through an alternate retelling of Neon Genesis Evangelion.
1. Run Rabbit Junk

**Run Rabbit Junk**

Rei could feel the danger approaching. She didn't know what it was, or where it was coming from, but it overcame her with unfamiliar dread. Rei Ayanami didn't feel dread. She did what she was told to the letter and moved onwards with her life. Moving constantly towards the day she'd finally be used to end the world. But now she felt dread, an unfamiliar emotion. And over taken by the emotion she did an unfamiliar action. She ran away. She ran fast and she ran hard, panting with exertion. And then, she woke up in bed, the threat gone.


	2. Yakitori

**Yakitori**

Rei stood in front of the food stand, the various smells wafting through the air towards her. It was new, opened on the street that very day. The stand had appeared along the route she took too and from school every day, unless she was reporting to NERV for tests or missions. The route was familiar, the stand was not. It was a Yakitori stand and sold various grilled chicken pieces, not something she was interested in. But on a separate menu card above the stand was one advertising grilled Shishito peppers. Overcome by a strange urge, Rei ordered some.


	3. Stamina Rose

**Stamina Rose**

Rei ran. She ran as fast and as hard as she could. She ran not out of fear though, but out of obligation. Measuring stamina by running on a treadmill was a standard test in the NERV labs. Pilots were to be in good health so that they would not collapse during an important battle. Next to Rei ran two other suited figures. One a boy with short brown hair. The other a girl with long auburn hair. This girl ran even harder than Rei. Why, Rei didn't understand. But she felt fascinated none the less. Rei didn't feel fascinated.


	4. Surf

**Surf**

Rei could hear the water crashing against the side of the ruined city. Raised water levels had destroyed what had once been beach front property, submerging it and its residents in watery death. Now the waters lay serene, moving in a gentle pattern. They had long been cleared of corpses or objects of value. But the buildings still lay down, a strange, twisted mirror image of the city grown up around its shore. She much preferred the smothering protectiveness of LCL fluid. It hid no malicious intent. From LCL everyone came. And eventually, to LCL everyone would return to someday.


	5. Where does this Ocean go

**Where does this Ocean Go**

Rei felt someone join her by the sea. Sensing the AT fields of all life was a sensation similar to having hands. She knew she had them, and could flex if wanted to, but it wasn't something felt consciously without trying to think about. Maybe hands were the wrong analogy, but she had never felt the urge to try to find the right one. The person next to her, unusually silent for once was her fellow Eva pilot Asuka Langely Soryu. The usually brash German girl was just staring out at the ocean and Rei wondered what she saw there.


	6. Train Search

**Train Search**

Rei could hearing the steady clacking as the train rolled across the tracks. The orange light of sunset filtered through the window as she sat alone in the train car. The whole situation was calming and mesmerizing. The only problem was that she wasn't sure when she'd boarded the train. Voices started to whisper at the edge of her hearing. They said things she just barely couldn't understand. The urgency and pleading tone of their voices made something clear though, they wanted something from her. Rei just sat through it calmly, waiting for the trip to end at the station.


	7. Siberian Doll House

**Siberian Doll House**

Rei stared down from her elevated position at two of the most important people in her life. Dr. Ritsuko Akagi and Commander Gendo Akari of NERV. Dr. Akagi was only important due to the tests she ran for Commander Ikari, who was all that Rei had been created to serve. The two were talking about something Rei couldn't hear through the glass and LCL fluid around her. They were tinted orange by the same impediments. She didn't need to look to know that all around her in their own tanks were dozens of soulless clones of her, smiling at nothing.


	8. Velveteen

**Velveteen**

Rei looked at the mannequin in front of her. It was dressed up in fancy clothing that anyone with any sense would have told her was much better than the school uniform she was currently, and always, wearing. Or at least that's what Asuka told her loudly and repeatedly. The German girl seemed to hate her presence but had still dragged her along on a shopping trip to the Tokyo-3 mall. Her actions always confused Rei, and this time was no exception. But she had been told this was Major Katsuragi's order, so what was she to do but obey?


	9. Lithium Flower

**Lithium Flower**

Rei couldn't move. It wasn't out of fear but out of necessity, or at least the lack of legs. Her Evangelion's legs had been crushed by the fearsome monster in front of her. The connections to her had been cut in time to prevent pain though. Eva Unit-04 was currently being controlled by an Angel, and seemed intent on finishing her off. But before it could do so something else came barreling into the Angel. It was thrown far away, crashing into a building. Rei saw her blood red savior spare her a glance and then charge at her foe.


	10. Home Stay

**Home Stay**

Rei was...peeved. It wasn't a feeling she felt often, but one she was sure she was feeling at the moment. She might not have been harmed irreparably, Unit-04 had still injured her. She almost wished she had died so that a clone could have just replaced her and been walking by now. But instead now she wore a leg cast. Routines were now annoyances. Rei sat on her bed wondering if she could live like this. A knock came at her door. When she answered, an unexpected figure stood there, fruit basket in hand, a shy smile on her face.


	11. Inner Universe

**Inner Universe**

"What do you think you are doing?"

"Saving everyone."

"Saving everyone? How many times have you tried to do that so far? Can you even remember?"

"I wish I couldn't."

"You tried to tell Misato, then Kaji, and even members of the government, none of it worked. Then you tried to help Shinji, but that didn't work. And now you're helping her? Do you even like her? Do you like any of them? Why do you keep trying? You gave up trying until the very end, and now you can't stop. Why?"

"Because everything is worth it. Because they are."


	12. Fish-Silent Cruise

**Fish - Silent Cruise**

She was floating. Floating through time. Floating through space. Floating through nothing. Like a fish just carried along by the current. Every time she failed, she was carried back to the start. Or a start. She didn't know why, and she didn't know how. She had long given up caring though. She had the chance to fix things. Even if it meant living out the horror again and again, watching them all fail and die repeatedly, she would. Each time through she found something new to care about. She would never give up again. Because that's who she now was.


	13. Some Other Time

**Some Other Time**

"You don't have to do this!"

"I was created for this. This is who I am."

"You're a person! You're Rei! That's who you are!"

"…"

"You can decide for yourself!"

"I am sorry, it is too late to change now. I am Rei, and this is who I am. It is regrettable. Maybe if we had met earlier, I could have been changed."

"Just do one last thing for me then."

"Yes?"

"Say my name"

"I do not understand."

"Say it!"

"As you wish…Asuka."

"I promise, I will save you. You deserve to live. To love and be loved."


	14. Beauty is Within Us

**Beauty is Within Us**

"Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"Helping me with everything while my leg heals. I was under the impression you found my company displeasing."

"You can be unsettling, but I've gotten used to it. When you're not being a freaking robot you're not half bad to be around."

"When you are not using sarcasm and insults in every sentence you are also not too unpleasant to be around."

"Well I guess 'not too unpleasant' isn't the worse phrase to describe us. I much prefer it over how I used to be."

"I will have to agree with that statement."


	15. We're the Great

**We're the Great**

Rei watched from her place on the hill as Evangelion Units-01 and 02 danced around the blasted Geofront. Unit-02 Swung with her axe, taking out a foe with each strike. Unit-01's gun fired a constant stream of bullets at the sinister white MP Evangelions that had surrounded them. They worked as a team, covering for each other and making up for being outnumbered. But it wasn't enough. The MP Evas just stitched their wounds back together and rejoined the fight. Asuka and Shinji were losing ground. But Rei could help them. She just needed to get there before they died.


	16. Monochrome

**Monochrome**

Rei was drifting. Time, space, it was all meaningless. She had the power, but she couldn't seem to ground herself. Everything was gray. Nothing moved. Nothing was tangible. Panic enveloped her. She couldn't even scream in her current form. Had she taken this choice for nothing? As she gave up into despair, a light appeared, everything it touched turning to color. Then a slender hand reached out and grabbed her own. She didn't resist as it pulled her towards the comforting light. Then she was through the light, a familiar face smiling at her.

"Congratulations," said Asuka. "You did it."


End file.
